Speaker 1: Are you a teacher who finds it difficult to manage disruptive student behaviors? Are you unsure of what to say when that behavior shows up in your classroom? Do you lack the confidence to even address those behaviors? If so, stay tuned to today's video. Hi, my name is Michelle Holliday, founder of Feed Their Needs. I help teachers and schools learn how to manage challenging student behaviors with less struggle and less stress. Today's video is all about how to respond and handle disruptive student behaviors in your classroom. So let's get started. Strategy number one. Redirect the behavior quickly. Many times I talk to teachers who are afraid to correct the behaviors in their classroom. And I think it happens for one of two reasons. Reason number one, a lack of confidence in the ability to effectively address behaviors in the classroom. Or reason number two, you just don't know what to say in that moment that will reduce or stop the behaviors. The method I like to use to correct misbehavior is to redirect the student to the behaviors I want to see. I have found that by giving them a CTA, a call to action, works better than focusing on the actual misbehavior. For those who lack the confidence, I want to encourage you to fight the fear and accept feeling uncomfortable, especially in the beginning. If you're struggling with what to say in the moment, a good tip is to have one to three responses that you can use quickly. These responses will address the behavior without you losing your stride as you are teaching your lesson. Here are a few go-to responses that I use. Go-to number one, enough talking, get back on task. Go-to number two, it's time to get focused, get started. Go-to number three, get focused, get working. And go-to number four, voices on zero, pencils in your hand, brains engaged. In each go-to, it focuses on a call to action, something they should be doing instead of talking about the behavior I don't want to see. Notice, I didn't ask questions like, what are you doing or why are you doing that? Because really, I'm not interested in their answer. My main focus is getting my students back on task so that the disruptive behavior stops. Also, as you are redirecting the behavior, make sure that your voice and your facial expressions are serious. This means that you are serious and you are expecting your students to comply. So, let's talk about some sample scenarios. So, if a student is calling out or continuously making noise, I'll say, enough calling out or enough noise making. If a student is out of seat and bothering another student, I'll say, return to your seat and start where you left off. Strategy number two, check your environment. Did you know that it is very difficult for a student to demonstrate or continue negative behavior in a positive classroom environment? The truth is, classroom environment has a major impact on student behaviors. I suggest that you audit your classroom. That means take a reflective look at the type of class environment that you currently have. Here are some questions to consider. Is your classroom chaotic? Does your classroom lack structure? Are the students often in conflict? Is there a climate of respect in the classroom? Do you have consistent routines? Are the routines being followed? Is there a lack of consistency in the school day? All of these factors affect student behaviors because a disorganized and unruly class environment is a breeding ground for disruptive student behaviors. When you have a classroom environment where the routines and the schedules are in place and functioning, plus the physical space is in order and put together, it can be very difficult for a student to engage in disruptive behaviors. Why? Because order promotes order. But if your classroom environment is out of control and all over the place, it invites disruption into your class setting. The takeaway here is that making sure that your classroom is orderly and structured can make a huge difference in curtailing disruptive student behaviors. If you're struggling with getting your classroom environment together, one quick fix is to focus on one area of your classroom each week to get organized and continue until the room is completely set up. If routines are your issue, focus on one routine a week to practice and perfect with your classroom until all of your routines are in place. Strategy number three, feed the need. If the disruptive student behavior continues to happen after repeated redirection and after you follow the reward and consequences steps of your classroom management system, it's time to find out the why. Begin by looking at the behavioral patterns to see what the disruptive behavior is really communicating. Check to see if the student is using the behavior to avoid something in the classroom, if they're using it for power and control to get what they want, or if they're using it for attention. I had a student who would tap loudly on his desk during whole group to hide the fact that he could not follow along with the lesson. So the why for him was avoidance. His disruptive behavior was expressing a need for more support. But I was only able to see that when I looked at his behavior from a different perspective. I looked at his behavior as a way of communicating an unmet need. I viewed his behavior as communication for something he needed beneath the surface of the actual behavior. So if the behavior is continuous and you have tried your usual strategies with zero to little progress, it's time to start looking beyond the behavior to find the need. Here are three steps to finding the need when it comes to student behavior. Number one, target a behavior. Decide on which behavior you're going to focus on. Make sure you understand what it looks like, what it sounds like, and how often it occurs. Number two, look at the pattern. This simply means to observe what happens before, during, and after the target behavior. Then look at your observations to see what they have in common. Number three, check to see what the student gains or avoids by engaging in the target behavior. Also consider it may be a lack of skills within the student. Strategy number four, give alternate replacement behaviors. Whenever you observe a disruptive behavior in your classroom, it's important to keep in mind what you want your student to do instead. Over the years, I have been surprised by how many students in a variety of grade levels have no idea what behavior to do instead of the misbehavior that keeps getting them in trouble. They may understand and know that what they do is inappropriate or incorrect, but oftentimes they don't know what to replace it with. Well, you may say, of course they know what to do. All they have to do is do their work. But when the student has an academic or social-emotional unmet need, the idea of just doing their work, at least in their mind, doesn't seem to be a viable option. So as teachers, we need options on what our students can replace their behaviors with while still meeting those unmet needs. Let's look at a previous example. We had the student who was tapping on the desk during whole group. What are some alternate replacement behaviors that we can provide for that student? If the student is being disruptive to avoid, we can allow that student to have many breaks throughout the day to help him avoid tasks temporarily. If the student is being disruptive for attention reasons, we can give that student opportunities for daily check-ins with the teacher or other support staff in the school. If the student is being disruptive for power and control, find as many opportunities as you can for that student to make choices throughout the school day. And if it's about not knowing what to do, just simply redirect that student to an alternate task or behavior. Providing alternate replacement behaviors does not mean that you are giving in to the student. What you are really doing is providing that student with another way to behave that does not disrupt your class. Other options for handling disruptive student behaviors are to make a behavior contract with the student, bring that student to your RTI team and come up with some other strategies, and of course you can make an individual behavior plan for the student. What misbehaviors do you struggle to find replacement behaviors for? Share that with me in the comments below. I hope these strategies are a help to you in your classroom. If you like this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe. See you next week for another video. You.